Method of making screens for printing of textiles, etc.



0a. 17, 1939. L. MAFTIN 2,176,634

METHOD OF MAKING SCREENS FOR PRINTING OF TEXTILES, ETC

Filed Oct. 2, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEVNTOR LOU/5 MART/N I A TORNEYOct. 17, 1939. 1.. MARTIN 2,176,634

METHOD OF MAKING SCREENS-FOR PRINTING OF TEXTILES, ETC

Filed Oct. 2, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR LOU/S MART/N TTORNEYPatented Oct. 17, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFWE METHOD OF MAKINGSCREENS FOR PRINTING F TEXTILES, ETC.

This invention relates to the art of printing on textiles and the like,and more particularly to a method or process for producing a printingscreen used in this art.

The following disclosure will deal with the printing of textiles and itwill be readily apparent that the invention may be efficiently employedin other fields.

The usual method of producing a printed textile 10 is as follows:

A design is first drawn by an artist on any medium such as paper; Therepeat motif of this design is then traced upon a silk screen or thelike, said screen being mounted in a frame. The motif 15 beingencompassed-by straight parallel lines, is traced unit by unit upon thescreen until its entire surface is covered by the repeats of the design.Those portions of the design which are not to be printed (as forinstance background portions) are 20 covered by an impervious coating,as for instance oil paint. The screen is now positioned over a piece offabric, and coloring matter applied to the fabric through theinterstices of the screen, the imperviously coated portions, of course,preventing the coloring matter from reaching the fabric except throughthe uncoated interstices.

It is obvious from the above that the manner of applying the design tothe screen is quite ardous, expensive, and inaccurate, inasmuch as eachmotif 30 is separately traced.

The present invention seeks to provide a less expensive method forapplying the design to the screen and one which is quite accurate sothat all the repeats on the screen are substantially identical. Also thestilted appearance of the design on the printed fabric which is due tothe common geometrical application of-the motif is obviated by theherein improved'manner of rearranging the design motif before itsapplication on the screen.

The contemplated method includes first rearranging the geometrical shapeof the original motif into an irregularly shaped motif in which theopposite sides of the figure thus formed are identical but irregular sothat all tendency to- 45 wards a stilted appearance is obviated andphotographing this rearranged motif upon the screen to provide anaccurate means for producing printed fabrics. Particularly where morethan one color is to be used, does the present method afford such 50highly eflicient means.

Several preferred manners of practising the invention are illustrated inthe accompanying drawings which are described in detail in the followingspecification. 55 In the drawings:

Fig. l isa plan view of a design as provided for reproduction upon thescreen and having a twocolor motif.

Figs. 2 and 3 are plan views of a stencil, negative, or the like whichis made for each color of 5 the design.

Fig. 4 shows a portion of the screen upon which one of the negatives hasbeen photographed unit by unit.

Fig. 5 is a view of a piece of fabric which is printed from screens suchas shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of another design employing only one color.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a negative made from the design shown in Fig. 8but in a manner somewhat different from which the negatives in Figs. 2and 3 are made. 1

Fig. 8 is a plan view of still another type 0 design.

Figs. 9, 10, and 11 are negatives formed for each color of the designshown in'Fig. 8.

In practising the herein contemplated method, the original design 15(Fig. 1) which has portions [6 of one color and portions I l of anothercolor, is first marked with an irregular line l8 between the top andbottom edges of the design motif, each end of the line being spaced thesame from the respective corner of the motif. Similarly, a line I9 ismarked between the lateral edges of the design motif. The motif is thusdivided into four portions 20, 2!, 22, and 23.

A transparent plate 24 of Celluloid or the like is then placed over thedesign 15, the four corners of the design marked thereon, and the linesencompassing the portion 20 traced thereon to provide the area 2 l Thedesign units I6 are also traced on the plate 24 to provide the portions[6.

The plate 24 is then shifted so that the portion 2| of the originaldesign is traced in transposed relation at 2 I on said plate. This isdone by positioning the corner markings 25 and 26 upon the corners 21and 28 of the original design. Here also the design units l6 are traced.In like manner the design portions 22 and 23 are traced in transposedrelation upon the plate 24 at 22 and 23 The motif, formed as above isthus encompassed by irregularly shaped lines instead of the geometricallines of the original motif, but the area of both is the same.

Now, all the portions of the plate outside of the motif are renderedopaque as are also the design units l6. In a similar manner the designmotif is reproduced upon another negative plate 28, but in this 6|instance, the design units I! are reproduced thereon at H.

The negative plate 24 is then placed in a camera and photographed upon asilk screen or the like 29 at 30, 30 30*, etc. This screen is firstprovided with 'a sensitized coating which when washed after exposureremains on the screen only at exposed portions in this. instance, thebackground, the unexposed portions It being the re sultant images of thedesign units l5.

In a similar manner, another screen is formed by the repeatphotographing of the negative plate 28 to provide said screen with thedesign units M The coating which remains on the screen background isnormally sufficiently impervious to chemical coloring matter and alsoquite durable. However, to more surely fix these portions, lacquer maybe spread on the screen, said lacquer adhering to said portions butbeing readily removable from other portions lfi 'of the screen byrubbing with cotton waste or the like from the rear thereof.

The screen is now ready for printing. This is done by placing the screenover a length of fabric, placing chemical coloring matter upon the topsurface of the screen and applying a squeegee to force said coloringmatter through the interstices of the screen at the portions Ni onto thefabric, the background portions,of course, preventing said coloringmatter from reaching those portions of the fabric which they overstand.In this manner the design units l6 are produced on the fabric (Fig. 5).After this is done, the screen containing the design um'ts H is appliedto the fabric and the units Il reproduced thereon in another color.

From the above it maybe seen that tedious tracing upon the screen of therepeat motif .is obviated; that said motif because of its irregularshape, eliminates any tendency towards a stilted appearance of thedesign and also more completely blends-the several motifs into awell-balanced and harmonious over-all design; and that the motifs arequite accurately positioned on the screen by the photographic methodemployed.

In the foregoing disclosure of the herein method, the design motif asformed on the negative provides for in line repeating of said motif, i.e., repeat along a horizontal and vertical line. The original design maybe transposed, however, so that the .repeat may be arranged in an offsetor diagonal relation. This is shown in Figs. 6 and 7 wherein the wavyline I9 is similar-to that already described but the line I8 is formedas lines l8 and l8 offset from each other. Now, when the motif is tracedon the negative 3i, the design portions 32, 33, 34, and 35 aretransposed as the portions 32 33 34 ,-and 35. When this motif isphotographed upon the screen 29, they will assume a diagonal relationwith each other. In a like manner, the line l9 may be drawn as twooffset portions to obtain diagonal relational positioning in theother'direction.

The foregoing contemplates a design or designs ,having spaces throughwhich the Wavy lines l8,

l9, I8 and l8 may be drawn. Some designs may have several colors all intouching relation. Such a design is shown in Fig. 8. This design is athree-color afiair requiring three negative plates and three screens forprinting the fabric.

As shown, the design has red portions 36, blue portions 31, and stippledportions 38, and no open spaces whatever. But, since each negative plateis provided for its respective color, the wavy line 39 for the-red platemay run through the stippled area, the wavy line 40 for the blue plate,through the red area, and the wavy line 4i for the stippled area,through the blue area.

Thus, when transporting the design as before described, the plate 42 isformed for providing the screen for printing the red portions of thedesign, and the plates 43 and 4 are formed for providing the respectivescreens for printing the blue and stippled portions thereof. Ashereinbefore, the wavy line I9 is used to obviate stilted and geomerticrepetition of the motif.

It is apparent from the above that the present method lends itself tothe printing of variegated and complicated designs in a sure, quick, andeconomically desirable manner. Skilled persons may deviate from theinstant disclosure without, however, departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as claimed. .Hence, the prior art rather than thepresent specific disclosure should form the basis of interpretation ofthe scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In the herein-disclosed method, the step of forming a negative platewhich comprises placing said plate over an original design, tracing theportion enclosed between two adjacent sides of said design and twoirregular lines drawn on the background of said design, and shiftingsaid plate to trace remaining portions of the design in transposedrelation to provide a motif having an irregular outline.

2. In the herein-disclosed method, the step of drawing on an originaldesign an irregular line terminatingat the top and bottom edges of thedesign, and drawing another irregular line terminating at the lateraledges of the design, to divide said design into a plurality of areaseach having two straight edges and two irregular edges, and transposingsaid areas upon a transparent plate so the irregular lines form theperiphery of the design motif.

3. In the herein-disclosed method, the step of forming a negative platewhich comprises dividing an original design into a plurality of areaseach having two straight edges and two irregular edges by drawing onsaid design an irregular line terminating at the top and bottom edges ofthe design and drawing another irregular line terminating at the lateraledges of the design, then placing said negative plate over the originaldesign, tracing on said plate the portion enclosed between two adjacentsides of said de sign and two irregular lines drawn on the background ofsaid design, and shifting said plate to trace remaining portions of thedesign in transposed relation to provide a motif having an irregularoutline diiferent from the original outline of the design.

4. In the herein-disclosed method, the step of forming a negative platewhich comprises dividing an original design into a plurality of areaseach having two straight edges and two irregular edges by drawing onsaid design an irregular line terminating at the top and bottom edges ofthe design, and drawing another irregular line terminating at thelateral edges of the design, then placing said negative plate over theoriginal design, tracing on said plate the portion enclosed between twoadjacent sides of said design and two irregular lines drawn on thebackground of said design, and shifting said plate to trace remainingportions of the design in transposed relation to provide a motif havingan irregular outline diflerent from the original outline of the 5. m theherein-disclosed method, the step of rendering opaque the design unitswithin the motif.

6.- In the herein-disclosed method, the step of drawing on an originaldesign an irregular line terminating at the top and bottom edges of thedesign, and drawing another irregular line terminating at the lateraledges of the design, to

divide said design into a plurality of areas each having two straightedges and two irregular edges, and tr said areas upon a transparentplate so the irregular lines form the periphery of design motif, andrendering r 3 opaque the portions of the plate outside the motif andalso rendering opaque the design units within the motif.

7. In the herein-disclosed method, the step of forming a negativetranslucid plate fromtan' original multi-colored design a whichcomprises drawing an irregular line on the original design through acolor other than that for which a plate is to be made, said lineterminating at opposite edges of the design, anddrawing anotherirregular line to intersect the first irregular line and terminating atother opposite edges of the design, thus dividing the original designinto 'a plurality of areas each having two straight edges and twoirregular edges, then placing said negative plate over the originaldesign, tracing on said plate the outlines of the desired color enclosedbetween two adjacent sides of said design and two irregular lines. drawnthereon, and shifting said plate to trace remaining portions of thedesired color of said design in transposed relation to provide a motifhaving an irregular outline diflerent from the original outline of thedesign, and in then rendering opaque the portions of the plate outsidethe motif and also rendering opaque the design elements within themotif.

LOUIS MARTIN.

